The Company Name on a Logo: How to Make It Work

The name of your company incorporated into its logo isn’t always a right solution but sometimes it is really perfect for your company’s introduction. So, in which cases will it be highly beneficial for companies to implement their names into their logos?

A logo can be described as your company’s face, while your corporate style is considered to be your company’s outfit. Combined all together, they create an unforgettable impression your company makes on your target audience.

Your logo is a special magic wand that lures people to get closer to your company. Which is why here comes a range of crucial questions like what this future logo is going to be: minimalistic or vintage; bright or calm; which shape should it have etc. These questions can be easily answered if you think for a while.

Yet there is one more important question that needs lots of your efforts on your way to finding a right solution. This question refers to the point of whether to incorporate the name of your company into your brand new logo or to avoid it. That’s why we decided to give you 3 reasons to use your company’s name on your logo. And one huge reason not to.

You should use your company’s name on your logo if:

1. You need to make it personal

Why do our parents give us our names? Why do we give nicknames to our pets? Why do we name our companies, brands etc.? Do our parents need to tell us apart from other children?

The answer: hardly, for names exist in order to make the connection personal. The same involves the names of companies incorporated into their logos. Due to using the company’s name on your logo, you make it personal and awake a strong mental connection between your company, your logo and your client. Which is why using your company’s name into your logo can be a great idea. For instance, look at the logo created on a crowdsourcing platform designcontest.com for a Twitch channel Miss Molly Makers.

Without the name, incorporated into the very core оf the logo, it would have looked plain, boring and like any other logo. Red background makes you focus your attention but, without the typography, what should you devote your attention to? This way, the name incorporated in a logo makes it more personal and brings it closer to your clients.

2. You need to make it recognizable

Sometimes, you don’t need any additional features but for the company’s name itself in order for a logo to make it work. When you choose a beautiful font that looks quite appealing, you don’t need to cram it with additional details that may make the logo look even vulgar or blur. The main thing in this case is to make your logo recognizable; if you’re sure this aim can be achieved purely with the help of your company’s name, don’t hesitate – according to the recent tendencies in a logo design, the less elements you use, the better your logo’s impact will be on your target audience.

One of the best examples of a textual implementation of a logo belongs to a world-famous brand Calvin Klein. Even after a huge rebranding that has happened this winter the company didn’t betray its traditions. Though the font of their logo has been changed, the initial concept was left the same – their logo consists purely of the company’s name. Nothing more, nothing less. Because of such logo’s depiction, the recognition of the company’s products keep growing: Calvin Klein appears everywhere, on every item of this brand’s clothes.

3. You need to visualize it

Last but not least is the significance of visualization. If you want to show your company’s main idea using your logo, you need to rely on the process of visualization. It is a rather creative way to show what your company is all about and it can never do without incorporating the company’s name into the concept of a logo itself. The reason is that the company’s name should be presented the way it stimulates people’s imagination. This way, the attention of your target audience will be immediately riveted to the company’s initial idea.

So, if your company is called “Cat”, you depict a cat on your logo; if it’s called “Cookies”, you need to have a logo designed with cookies on it. Of course, you also need your company’s name on the logo: this way, you will be influencing both your clients’ fantasy and a rational part of their mind.

One of the best examples is shown by Light Bureau. They make their logo visual due to the letters on it, as well as using a lighthouse and the effect of sea waves. They play with colors and visualization, making people remember what their company is all about. Once again, such implementation of the company’s name broadens the space for your creativity.

You shouldn’t use your company’s name on your logo if:

You make it blur

Perhaps, this is the worst part of any logo of a low quality that decided to use the company’s name on it. If you don’t make it clear, you shouldn’t design it at all. The whole idea about using the company’s name on a logo design is about introducing the company to potential clients and loyal customers. However, if you miscalculate and use a wrong font, kerning, color or simply the text’s placement, the impression will be spoiled for good.

Take a look at Animal Planet’s logo before and after they took on a redesign company. We’re mostly interested in what they got afterward, for the initial logo was quite smart and sophisticated. However, the logo they got after the rebranding campaign is not. If you didn’t know it was a logo of Animal Planet, you wouldn’t probably be able to read it. Instead of making that logo clear for understanding, they made it blurry. The mistake you shouldn’t make while designing your own logo for sure.

This was written by Natalie Antiuk. She works for DesignContest, a marketplace that conducts web design services of the highest quality. She is keen on web design combined with its usage in launching startups and marketplaces. She also studies social media and their influence on people’s behavior.